Information:“Deutsche Wertarbeit” [Quality German workmanship] is a long forgotten jewel of German electronic music, made by the Düsseldorf keyboard player and composer Dorothea Raukes. Originally released in 1981 on Sky Records. No stomping of military marches, as the title may imply, but six beautiful synthesizer treasures gathered together on the only solo album she would release, artfully unifying the so-called Düsseldorf School (Kraftwerk etc.), the Berliner School (Tangerine Dream etc.) and elements of Jean
Michel Jarre’s music with sounds of the inceptive 1980s. From the hypnotic to the cosmic, sometimes pulsating, sometimes evincing accharine melancholy. The cool, almost technical artwork does not really fit the warm, sensitive music either. Dorothea Raukes was not exactly an unknown quantity when the album appeared. She had been playing keyboards and writing for the Dusseldorf rock band Streetmark for years. The group—as was typical of the period—operated on democratic principles, which meant that she was never quite able to follow through on her own musical ideas one hundred percent. A solo album, however, would allow her to do just that. One of the reasons why it turned out tob e a purely electronic album was Raukes’ sponsorship deal with Korg, giving her access to the full range of the company’s gear. Listening to “Deutsche Wertarbeit”, those familiar with the history of Streetmark will find themselves reminded of Wolfgang Riechmann’s solo LP “Wunderbar” which appeared three years earlier and traced a similar musical pattern (reissued on Bureau B in 2009). Wolfgang Riechmann himself had been a member of Streetmark not all that long ago. Nonetheless, the two projects were entirely separate and had no immediate influence on each other.